ALA 2011 | Authors & Celebrities
A full slate of author talks, signings, award galas, and more add balance to the days of other professional programs in New Orleans June 1, 2011| AUTHOR-ITY FIGURES ALA always boasts a cache of fabulous and varied programs on books and their creators. (L.-r.): On Saturday, hear Jennifer Niven Celebraging Southern Writers and Wendy mcClure on the hot Literary Memoirs trend. Sunday is for Mystery and Horror with S.J. Watson. Sip some Tea on Monday with mother and daughter Susan Wiggs (l.) and Elizabeth Wiggs Mass. Niven photo by Louis Kapeleris; McClure photo by Popio Stumpf Photography; Wiggs & Wiggs Mass photo by Crystal Sakto-Moore/Crystal Photography |
Friday, June 24
Dan Savage (columnist “Savage Love” ; editor, It Gets Better)
4–5:15 p.m.
Opening General Session. Author of the syndicated column “Savage Love” and editorial director of the Seattle weekly The Stranger, Savage and his husband, Terry Miller, spearheaded the “It Gets Better” campaign by downloading a video on YouTube after a rash of gay teen suicides that were the result of bullying. Six months later, www.itgetsbetter.org is now a nonprofit and a national movement, with over 10,000 videos and growing. A signing will follow.
Saturday, June 25
Harlan Coben (Live Wire; Shelter)
J.A. Jance (Fatal Error)
8–9 a.m.
Auditorium Speaker Series. Mystery and thriller fans will want to get clued in to these New York Times best-selling and multi-award-winning authors.
Jeff Kinney (Diary of a Wimpy Kid)
10:30–11:30 a.m.
Auditorium Speaker Series. Kinney’s work has been widely credited for its ability to turn reluctant readers on to books. And now there are the movies, too.
Dr. Sally Karioth (If You Want To Know If You’re Dying, Ask the Cleaning Lady [and Other Thoughts on Life and Happiness])
AASL. 10:30 a.m.–noon.
President’s Program. The expert on grief, loss, and trauma will help attendees focus on personal responses to stressful situations, distinguish between minor and major events, and find the exquisite moments in each day.
William Joyce (A Day with Wilbur Robinson)
1:30–2:30 p.m.
Auditorium Speaker Series. His award-winning picture books include George Shrinks and Dinosaur Bob and His Adventures with the Family Lazardo, and he’s won three Emmy awards for Rolie Polie Olie. He is now codirecting Rise of the Guardians (fall 2012) for DreamWorks Animation. A kid’s best friend.
John Hart (Iron House)
Tayari Jones (Silver Sparrow)
Kathleen Kent (The Traitor’s Wife)
Jennifer Niven (Velva Jean Learns To Fly)
Pat MacEnulty (Wait Until Tomorrow)
Kevin Wilson (The Family Fang)
ALTAFF. 1:30–3:30 p.m.
Celebrating Southern Writers. Down-home charm with these regional authors and LJ’s own Southern belle (from south New Jersey) and Prepub Alert queen, Barbara Hoffert. Book signing, some free/some at discount, y’all.
Siva Vaidhyanathan (The Googlization of Everything [and Why We Should Worry])
3:30–4:30 p.m.
Auditorium Speaker Series. You can’t afford to miss this professor of media studies and law at the University of Virginia, author of Copyrights and Copywrongs and The Anarchist in the Library. In his latest work, he examines ways we have used Google and the growing resistance to its expansion. An absolute must!
Orson Scott Card (The Lost Gate)
Jim Ottaviani (T-Minus: The Race to the Moon)
John Scalzi (Fuzzy Nation)
Carrie Vaughn (Kitty’s Big Trouble)
David Weber (Out of the Dark)
LITA. 4–5:30 p.m.M
Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Information Science. Look at the present and future of information science and technology through the eyes of sf and fantasy authors. For a preview of Scalzi, see “Scalzi’s Novel Reboot,” LJ 5/1/11.
Margaux Fragoso (Tiger, Tiger)
Rachel Hades (Strange Relation)
Brianna Karp (The Girl’s Guide to Homelessness)
Wendy McClure (The Wilder Life) Theresa Weir (The Orchard)
ALTAFF. 4–5:30 p.m.
Tales from the Heart: Literary Memoirs. Memoirs are hot, hot, hot, as can be attested to by the moderator, LJ’s Barbara Hoffert. Hear it from the authors’ mouth. Book signing, with some free/some discounted.
Sunday, June 26
Daniel Ellsberg
8–9:15 a.m.
Auditorium Speaker Series. With the release last year of the Oscar-nominated documentary The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, the man behind the 1971 controversy is once more big news. It’s been 40 years. Whistleblowers are always in fashion.
Loree Griffin Burns (The Hive Detectives)
Shirley Duke (You Can’t Wear These Genes)
Kelly Milner Halls (In Search of Sasquatch)
Deborah Heiligman (Charles and Emma)
Carla Killough McClafferty (The Many Faces of George Washington)
Carla Mooney (Explorers of the New World)
Darcy Pattison (Prairie Storms)
April Pulley Sayre (Rah, Rah, Radishes)
Anastasia Suen (Read and Write Sports)
Christine Taylor-Butler (Magnets)
ALSC. 8–10 a.m.
Nonfiction Book Blast: Booktalks and Activities for Your Library. Start school with new booktalks and activities from ten nonfiction authors.
Brooke Gladstone (The Influencing Machine)
10:30–11:30 a.m.
Auditorium Speaker Series. Gladstone is cohost and managing editor of NPR’s award-winning On the Media. Winner of numerous media awards (e.g, a Peabody, several Murrows, National Press Club press criticism award, plus a Knight Fellowship at Stanford University). A first-time author worth hearing.
C.S. Harris (Where Shadows Dance)
Bill Loehfelm (The Devil She Knows)
Cammie McGovern (Neighborhood Watch)
Erica Spindler (Watch Me Die)
S.J. Watson (Before I Go To Sleep)
ALTAFF. 10:30–noon.
Mystery and Horror @ Your Library. Mystery, of course. But horror? Horrors! Best-selling authors in both genres will make your spines tingle. Prepub Alert guru Barbara Hoffert moderates. Book signing, with some free/some discounted.
Margriet Ruurs (Amazing Animals)
OLOS. 12:30–1:30 p.m.
Bookmobile Sunday—Author Luncheon. The award-winning author of 26 children’s books speaks about the importance of outreach and her experiences while researching and promoting her books. $25. Event Code: OLO1.
David Simon (Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets)
Laura Lippman (I’d Know You Anywhere)
1–2:30 p.m.
PLA President’s Program and Awards Presentation; Auditorium Speaker Series. This TV writer-producer and well-regarded mystery author are also husband and wife. Suspense is always fascinating to read and to hear about, and Simon adds what he’s learned working on the New Orleans–based cable series Treme.
Pam Muñoz Ryan ( author, The Dreamer)
Eric Velasquez (author/illustrator, Grandma’s Gift)
ALSC. 1–4 p.m.
The 2011 Pura Belpré Awards. Winning authors and illustrators of outstanding works of literature for children and youth celebrating the Latino experience. Delicious food, music, dance, and other surprises.
Neil Abramson (Unsaid)
Ellen Bryson (The Transformation of Bartholomew Fortuno)
Sen. Bob Graham (Keys to the Kingdom)
Eleanor Henderson (Ten Thousands Saints)
Rebecca Makkai (The Borrower)
Jon Michaud (When Tito Loved Clara)
ALTAFF. 1:30–3:30 p.m.
First Author, First Book. Don’t we all see ourselves as future authors? Hear how these six first-timers managed to get it done. A Q&A will provide a reality check for the rest of us. LJ’s Barbara Hoffert knows all about debut authors; she’s moderating. Book signing, with some free/some discounted.
Andy Borowitz (“The Borowitz Report”)
Jill Kargman (Sometimes I Feel Like a Nut: Essays and Observations)
Paula Poundstone (There’s Nothing in This Book I Meant To Say)
Leila Sales (Past Perfect)
ALTAFF. 5:30–7:30 p.m.
The Laugh’s On Us! Poundstone pounds the boards with a lineup of comedians and authors. Wine, cheese, and chuckles, plus book signing, some free/some discounted. Tickets: $55. Event code: ALT2.
Erin E. Stead (illustrator, A Sick Day for Amos McGee)
Clare Vanderpool (author, Moon Over Manifest)
ALSC. 6–11 p.m.
Newbery-Caldecott-Wilder Banquet. Newbery and Caldecott medalists and honorees, authors and illustrators of the year’s most distinguished books for children, and this year’s Wilder Award winner, Tomie dePaola. Preregistration required. Tickets: $94. Event Code: ALS1.
Monday, June 27
Robyn Carr (Harvest Moon)
Brenda Jackson (A Silken Thread)
Julie James (A Lot Like Love)
Stephanie Laurens (The Reckless Bride)
Adrienne McDonnell (The Doctor and the Diva)
ALTAFF. 8–10 a.m.
Isn’t It Romantic? With the Romance Writers of America annual conference beginning the following day in New York, embrace the opportunity to hear these stars of the romance pantheon on what is undoubtedly one of the “hottest” genres in and out of libraries. Will they talk original ebooks? Prepub Alert’s Barbara Hoffert makes her fifth ALA appearance in this love-fest. A book signing, with some free/some discounted.
C.J. Cherryh (Betrayer)
Brandon Sanderson (Alcatraz Versus the Shattered Lens)
10:30–11:30 a.m.
Auditorium Speaker Series. Sf is more than bad spelling. Hear from a multiple award-winning author of over 30 novels (Cherryh) and a New York Times best-selling writer (Sanderson) on what makes the genre so appealing to read and to write.
Marilyn Johnson (This Book Is Overdue! How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All)
ALTAFF. 10:30 a.m.–noon.
President’s Program. Best-selling author Johnson has been a national champion of libraries and was the moving force behind ALTAFF’s Authors for Libraries, a large and growing group of authors who are willing and ready to speak out at the local and national levels about the importance of libraries. A book signing will follow.
Emma Donoghue (Inseparable: Desire Between Women in Literature)
Barb Johnson (More of This World or Maybe Another)
Brian Katcher (Almost Perfect)
GLBTRT. 10:30–2 p.m.
Stonewall Book Awards Brunch. The best of the year’s LGBTQ fiction, nonfiction, and children’s books. Tickets: $55. Event code: ALA4.
Nevada Barr (Burn)
Eleanor Brown (The Weird Sisters)
Dorothea Benton Frank (Folly Beach)
Karin Slaughter (Fallen)
Susan Wiggs & Elizabeth Wiggs Mass (How I Planned Your Wedding)
ALTAFF. 2–4 p.m.
Gala Author Tea. Best-selling authors discuss the writing life, a mother-daughter experience, and library advocacy. Enjoy tea, sweets, and savories, plus a book signing, with some free/some discounted. Tickets: $55 on site. Event Code: ALT3
Mark Doty (Fire to Fire)
PPO. 5–7 p.m.
The Language of Conservation at the Audubon Zoo. Experience the Language of Conservation poetry installation via a train tour and wine reception and reading by the Audubon Zoo Poet-in-Residence. $20. Event Code: PPO1
Mike Artell (Petite Rouge)
Stephanie Calmenson (10 Items or Less)
Margarita Engle (Hurricane Dancers: The First Caribbean Pirate Shipwreck)
Kristine O’Connell George (Emma Dilemma: Big Sister Poems)
Mordicai Gerstein (Parrots & Pirates)
Nikki Grimes (A Girl Named Mister)
Alan Katz (Mosquitoes Are Ruining My Summer! And Other Silly Dilly Camp Songs)
Joyce Sidman (Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night)
Marilyn Singer (Twosomes: Love Poems from the Animal Kingdom)
Lee Wardlaw (Won Ton: A Cat Tale Told in Haiku)
Janet Wong (Me and Rolly Maloo)
Tracie Vaughn Zimmer (Cousins of Clouds: Elephant Poems)
ALSC. 5:30–7:30 p.m.
8th Annual Poetry Blast. Hosted by LJ’s Barbara Genco, this annual gathering of poets and authors showcases contemporary North American poetry for children. A fine show.
Paolo Bacigalupi (Ship Breaker)
Lucy Chistopher (Stolen)
A.S. King (Please Ignore Vera Dietz)
Marcus Sedgwick (Revolver)
Janne Teller (Nothing)
YALSA. 8–10 p.m.
Michael L. Printz Program and Reception. Come listen to award winner Bacigalupi and honor book authors speak about writing, followed by a reception.
Tuesday, June 28
Bryan Collier (illustrator, Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave)
Rita Williams-Garcia (author, One Crazy Summer)
EMIERT. 7–9 a.m.
The Coretta Scott King Book Awards Breakfast. Celebrate the 2011 winners for the year’s best African American authors and illustrators of books for children and youth, plus the honor list. Tickets: $50; $60 onsite. Event code: ALA3.
Molly Shannon (Tilly the Trickster)
9–10 a.m.
Closing General Session. The SNL veteran and Emmy-nominated actress begins a new chapter as an author as her mischievous young heroine, Tilly the Trickster, finds her way to children, parents, and all of her fans.
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